Unpaid power workers at construction site go on strike

Power workers at a construction site in İstanbul who have not been paid for two months now go on a strike, and call for other unpaid workers who work for other companies at the same site to join with them

Workers of the power company Tosunlar Elektrik which operates as a sub-supply company of Noya Elektrik, a sub-contracting power company, at the construction site of “Selenium Retro-9” project of the construction company Aşçıoğlu in Turkey’s İstanbul have not been paid for days, and are now in strike action at the construction site.

First, the workers, who are paid by Noya Elektrik, receive the minimal amount from the company who seeks to pay the insurance premiums at the lower limit. Afterwards, the rest of the pay and the overtime pay is put into the workers’ accounts, minus the minimal amount, the following day. Moreover, since Noya Elektrik keeps the 20-day-worth of pays in their accounts, some workers have not even paid for 2 months now.

Noya Elektrik had paid their workers’ wages, while not paying the workers at Tosunlar Elektrik, its sub-supplier, and the workers had to spend the holidays without any payment. After the workers concluded that they were being stalled off, they started a strike on September 4, Tuesday.

It was also reported that there were other workers who worked at the “Retro-9” project for other companies, and they have not been paid yet, either. The workers at strike state that those workers should join with them, giving voice to the resistance until they have got their labour’s worth.

Though the representatives of the employers tell the workers to put an end to their action, the workers are determined not to.

soL News was not able to reach any authorities at Noya Elektrik. However, Oğuzhan Tosun, an authority from Tosunlar Engineering Ind. & Tr. Ltd. Co. made a statement to soL News.

While confirming that the workers have not been paid, as explained in the coverage, the statement asserted that the text was “garbled” and biased, since it was “written by heeding only to the workers’ side of the story”.